Methods and apparatus for depositing a cobalt layer using a carousel batch deposition reactor

ABSTRACT

Methods and apparatus for depositing a cobalt layer in features formed on a substrate are provided herein. In some embodiments, a method of depositing a cobalt layer atop a substrate includes: (a) providing a substrate to a substrate support that is rotatable between two processing positions; (b) exposing the substrate to a cobalt containing precursor at a first processing position to deposit a cobalt layer atop the substrate, wherein the substrate at the first processing position is at a first temperature; (c) rotating the substrate to a second processing position; and (d) annealing the substrate at the second processing position to remove contaminants from the cobalt layer, wherein the substrate at the second processing position is at a second temperature greater than the first temperature.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims benefit of U.S. provisional patent applicationSer. No. 62/025,875, filed Jul. 17, 2014, which is herein incorporatedby reference in its entirety.

FIELD

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to substrateprocessing methods and apparatus, and more specifically, to methods andapparatus for depositing cobalt on a substrate.

BACKGROUND

The inventor has observed that chemical vapor deposition (CVD) of cobaltcan be used as a metal deposition technique for applications such asforming metal interconnects in an integrated circuit. CVD cobalt may bedeposited within an opening, such as a via or trench, in thin layers andthen annealed at about 250 to about 450 degrees Celsius to drive outimpurities such as carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen. The deposition andanneal steps may be repeated several times to fill the opening withcobalt. However, conventional CVD chambers may not have annealcapabilities, requiring the substrates to leave the deposition chamberto be annealed and then returned to the CVD chamber for the additionaldeposition. Thus, the several deposition and anneal steps performedbefore the opening is filled with cobalt would take a lengthy period oftime, resulting in low throughput and high expense for the process.

Thus, the inventor has provided improved methods and apparatus fordepositing a cobalt layer in features formed on a substrate.

SUMMARY

Methods and apparatus for depositing a cobalt layer in features formedon a substrate are provided herein. In some embodiments, a method ofdepositing a cobalt layer atop a substrate includes: (a) providing asubstrate to a substrate support that is rotatable between twoprocessing positions; (b) exposing the substrate to a cobalt containingprecursor at a first processing position to deposit a cobalt layer atopthe substrate, wherein the substrate at the first processing position isat a first temperature; (c) rotating the substrate to a secondprocessing position; and (d) annealing the substrate at the secondprocessing position to remove contaminants from the cobalt layer,wherein the substrate at the second processing position is at a secondtemperature greater than the first temperature.

In some embodiments, a substrate processing chamber includes: a chamberbody having a processing volume; a rotatable substrate support disposedwithin the chamber body, wherein the substrate support is configured torotate one or more substrates arranged in a planar array between a firstprocessing position and a second processing position, wherein the firstprocessing position and the second processing position are independentlythermally controlled; a showerhead disposed opposite the rotatablesubstrate support configured to expose the one or more substrates at thefirst processing position to a cobalt containing precursor; and a heatsource disposed within the substrate support configured to heat the oneor more substrates at the second processing position.

In some embodiments, a computer readable medium is provided havinginstructions stored thereon that, when executed, causes a processchamber to perform a method for depositing a cobalt layer atop asubstrate. The method may include any of the methods disclosed herein.

Other embodiments and variations of the present disclosure are discussedbelow.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the present disclosure, briefly summarized above anddiscussed in greater detail below, can be understood by reference to theillustrative embodiments of the disclosure depicted in the appendeddrawings. However, the appended drawings illustrate only typicalembodiments of the disclosure and are therefore not to be consideredlimiting of scope, for the disclosure may admit to other equallyeffective embodiments.

FIG. 1 depicts a method of depositing a cobalt layer atop a substrate inaccordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIGS. 2A-D depicts the stages of filling a feature with cobalt inaccordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 depicts a process chamber suitable for performing a method ofdepositing cobalt in features formed on a substrate in accordance withsome embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 4 depicts a top view of a substrate support suitable for performinga method of depositing cobalt in features formed on a substrate inaccordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 5 depicts a side view of a substrate support suitable forperforming a method of depositing cobalt in features formed on asubstrate in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

FIG. 6 depicts a bottom view of a showerhead suitable for performing amethod of depositing cobalt in features formed on a substrate inaccordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

To facilitate understanding, identical reference numerals have beenused, where possible, to designate identical elements that are common tothe figures. The figures are not drawn to scale and may be simplifiedfor clarity. Elements and features of one embodiment may be beneficiallyincorporated in other embodiments without further recitation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Methods and apparatus for depositing cobalt in features formed on asubstrate are provided herein. In accordance with embodiments of thepresent disclosure, cobalt is deposited within an opening in thin layersand then annealed to drive out impurities. The inventive methods andapparatus described herein advantageously combine the deposition andanneal process in a single chamber to improve cycle time and throughput.The inventive methods described herein may be utilized in the formationof metal interconnects in an integrated circuit as well as othersuitable applications involving depositing a cobalt fill layer withimproved cycle time and throughput.

FIG. 1 is a flow diagram of a method 100 for depositing cobalt inaccordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. The method100 is described below with respect to the stages of filling a featurewith cobalt as depicted in FIGS. 2A-2B.

The method begins at 102 by providing one or more substrates to arotatable substrate support. The substrate support is rotatable betweentwo processing positions. In some embodiments, the substrate support mayrotate one or more substrates between a first processing position, wherea cobalt layer is deposited onto the one or more substrates, and asecond processing position where the cobalt layer is annealed to removecontaminants.

For example, in some embodiment, the substrate support is substratesupport 308 depicted in FIG. 3, FIG. 4, and FIG. 5. FIG. 3 depicts aschematic diagram of an illustrative apparatus 300 of the kind that maybe used to practice embodiments of the disclosure as discussed herein.The apparatus 300 depicted in FIG. 3 comprises a process chamber 302having a substrate support 308 disposed in the process chamber forsupporting one or more substrates thereupon during processing. In FIG.3, two substrates 200A and 200B are shown. However, in the presentdisclosure the substrates are sometimes referred to in aggregate as oneor more substrate 200.

FIG. 4 depicts a top view of the substrate support 308 having one ormore substrates disposed thereon. In some embodiments, the substratesupport 308 may support between 2 and 6 substrates. For example, FIG. 4depicts a substrate support having four substrates 200A, 200B, 200C, and200D arranged in a planar array with two substrates 200A, 200C at firstprocessing positions 402A and 402B and two substrates 200B, 200D atsecond processing positions 404A and 404B. Thus, for example, thesubstrate support provides support for a plurality of single substratesin a planar array with each single substrate being in a separateprocessing position. As shown in FIG. 4, multiple processing positionscan be configured for the same process (e.g., two first processingpositions for example for deposition and two second processing positionsfor example for annealing). In some embodiments, processes at eachprocessing position may occur simultaneously (e.g. cobalt deposition mayoccur at two first processing positions while annealing occurs at twosecond processing positions)

In some embodiments, the substrate support provides support for an evenplurality of single substrates in an even plurality of separateprocessing positions, wherein half of the processing positions areconfigured for deposition and half of the processing positions areconfigured for annealing. In some embodiments, the substrate supportprovides support for an even plurality of single substrates in an evenplurality of separate processing positions, wherein all of theprocessing positions are configured for both deposition and annealingand the appropriate process can be chosen depending upon the need.Accordingly, each of the processing positions can be independentlythermally controlled such that the temperature and the depositionpositions (e.g., a first temperature) can be controlled simultaneouslywhile providing the temperature used at the deposition positions (e.g.,a second temperature greater than the first temperature).

FIG. 5 depicts a side view of the substrate support 308. In someembodiments, the substrate support 308 may rotate in a clockwise orcounterclockwise direction about a center 406 of the substrate support308. In some embodiments, the substrate support 308 may include amechanism that retains or supports the one or more substrates 200 on thesurface of the substrate support 308, such as an electrostatic chuck, avacuum chuck, a substrate retaining clamp, or the like (not shown).

As depicted in FIG. 2A, the one or more substrates 200 includes a firstsurface 202 having a feature 204 formed in the first surface 202 of theone or more substrate 200. The feature 204 comprises an opening 220formed in the first surface 202 of the one or more substrates 200 andextending into the one or more substrates 200 towards an opposing secondsurface of the one or more substrates 200. For example, the one or moresubstrates 200 may comprise one or more of silicon (Si), silicon oxide(SiO₂), or the like. In addition, the one or more substrates 200 mayinclude additional layers of materials or may have one or more completedor partially completed structures formed therein or thereon.

The opening 220 may be any suitable opening such as a via, trench, dualdamascene structure, or the like. In some embodiments, the feature 204may have a height to width aspect ratio of about 3:1 to about 15:1. Theopening 220 may be formed by etching the one or more substrates 200using any suitable etch process. The opening 220 is defined by one ormore sidewalls 206 and a bottom 208.

In some embodiments, a first layer 212 is formed atop the first surface202, the bottom 208, and the sidewalls 206 prior to depositing cobaltmaterial as described at 106 below. In some embodiments, the first layer212 may be an oxide material, such as silicon oxide (SiO₂) or the like.The oxide material may be deposited or grown by any suitable oxidationprocess using any suitable process chamber, for example a chemical vapordeposition (CVD) chamber. The oxide material may serve as an electricaland/or physical barrier between the substrate and the cobalt-containinglayer to be subsequently deposited in the opening 220, and/or mayfunction as a better surface for attachment during the depositionprocess discussed below than a native surface of the substrate. In someembodiments, the first layer 212 may include a barrier materialdeposited atop the oxide layer. In some embodiments, an oxide layer isnot present and the barrier material may be the first layer 212 formedatop the first surface 202, the bottom 208 and sidewalls 206 of thefeature 204. The barrier material may serve a similar purpose as theoxide material discussed above. In some embodiments, the barriermaterial may include at least one of titanium (Ti), tantalum (Ta), andoxides or nitrides of Ti, Ta, or the like. The barrier material may bedeposited by any suitable methods, such as by CVD or PVD.

Next, at 104, and as depicted in FIG. 2B, the one or more substrates 200are exposed to a cobalt containing precursor 210 to deposit a cobaltlayer 214 atop the one or more substrates 200 and within the feature204. Each substrate in a first processing position, for examplesubstrates 200A, 200C as shown in FIG. 4, are exposed to the cobaltcontaining precursor 210. Each substrate at the first processingposition is at a first temperature suitable for deposition of a cobaltlayer, for example a temperature of about 100 degrees Celsius to about400 degrees Celsius. In some embodiments, as depicted in FIG. 5,substrate 200A at the first processing position is exposed to the cobaltcontaining precursor 210 while a flow of inert gas 502, such as nitrogen(N₂), is provided to the second processing positions to prevent cobaltcontaining precursor gas from straying into the second processingpositions and depositing a cobalt layer atop substrates 200B, 200D inthe second processing positions.

The cobalt containing precursor 210 and the inert gas may be provided tothe process chamber 302 using any suitable showerhead 314. Theshowerhead 314 may have a variety of configurations, such as providinggases to one zone or multiple zones of the process chamber. In someembodiments, the showerhead 314, as depicted in FIG. 6 may have multiplezones corresponding to the first and second processing positions 402A-Band 404A-B of the substrate support 308. For example, as depicted inFIG. 6, the showerhead 314 may have first zones 602A and 602B, which forexample can supply cobalt containing precursor 210 to the firstprocessing positions 402A and 402B, and second zones 604A and 604B,which for example can supply an inert gas to the second processingpositions 404A and 404B to prevent the cobalt containing precursor gasfrom straying into the second processing positions.

In some embodiments, the one or more substrates 200 are exposed to thecobalt containing precursor 210 at a flow rate of about 750 sccm toabout 1000 sccm. In some embodiments, suitable cobalt precursors mayinclude cobalt carbonyl complexes, cobalt amidinate compounds,cobaltocene compounds, cobalt dienyl complexes, cobalt nitrosylcomplexes, derivatives thereof, complexes thereof, plasmas thereof, orcombinations thereof. In some embodiments, dicobalt hexacarbonyl acetylcompounds may be used to form the cobalt layer. Dicobalt hexacarbonylacetyl compounds may have the chemical formula of (CO)₆CO₂(RC≡CR′),wherein R and R′ are independently selected from hydrogen, methyl,ethyl, propyl, isopropyl, butyl, tertbutyl, penta, benzyl, aryl, isomersthereof, derivatives thereof, or combinations thereof. In one example,dicobalt hexacarbonyl butylacetylene (CCTBA, (CO)₆CO₂(HC≡CtBu)) is thecobalt precursor. Other examples of dicobalt hexacarbonyl acetylcompounds include dicobalt hexacarbonyl methylbutylacetylene((CO)₆CO₂(MeC≡CtBu)), dicobalt hexacarbonyl phenylacetylene((CO)₆CO₂(HC≡CPh)), hexacarbonyl methylphenylacetylene((CO)₆CO₂(MeC≡CPh)), dicobalt hexacarbonyl methylacetylene((CO)₆CO₂(HC≡CMe)), dicobalt hexacarbonyl dimethylacetylene((CO)₆CO₂(MeC≡CMe)), derivatives thereof, complexes thereof, orcombinations thereof. Other exemplary cobalt carbonyl complexes includecyclopentadienyl cobalt bis(carbonyl) (CpCo(CO)₂), tricarbonyl allylcobalt ((CO)₃Co(CH₂CH═CH₂)), or derivatives thereof, complexes thereof,or combinations thereof. In some embodiments, the method may furthercomprise flowing a reactant gas, such as hydrogen (H₂), along with theprecursor gases. General processing conditions for forming the cobaltlayer discussed above include maintaining process chamber pressure atabout 15 to about 25 Torr.

In some embodiments, the cobalt layer 214 may be formed via a plasmaassisted deposition process, such as a plasma enhanced chemical vapordeposition process or a thermal chemical vapor deposition process. Insome embodiments, for example, the one or more substrates 200 may beexposed to the cobalt containing precursor 210 in a plasma state. Theplasma may be formed by coupling sufficient energy, for example radiofrequency (RF) energy from a power source to ignite the cobalt precursorto form the plasma. In some embodiments, the power source mayillustratively provide about 400 watts, of power at a suitablefrequency, such as about 13.56 MHz. The plasma facilitates adecomposition of the precursor causing a deposition of material on theone or more substrates 200 to form the cobalt layer 214.

Next, at 106, the substrate having a cobalt layer deposited thereon isrotated to a second processing position. As depicted in FIG. 4,substrates 200A, 200C having a cobalt layer deposited thereon arerotated to the second processing position 404, while substrates 200B,200D rotate to the first processing position 402 to have a cobalt layerdeposited thereon as described above at 104.

Next, at 108, and as depicted in FIG. 2C, the one or more substrates 200are annealed 216 to remove contaminants from the cobalt layer. Eachsubstrate at the second processing position, for example substrates200B, 200D as shown in FIG. 4, is annealed. The one or more substrates200 are annealed at a temperature of about 150 to about 500 degreesCelsius. In some embodiments, each substrate is annealed for about 50 toabout 150 seconds. In some embodiments, after annealing, the one or moresubstrates 200 may be cooled to a temperature suitable for cobaltdeposition. The one or more substrates 200 may be cooled at the secondprocessing position, may be rotated to the first processing position andcooled prior to cobalt deposition, or a combination thereof.

The substrate support 308 may include mechanisms for controlling thesubstrate temperature such as heating and/or cooling devices for heatingthe substrate and/or cooling the substrate. For example, in someembodiments, such as depicted in FIG. 5, the one or more substrates 200are heated and/or cooled using a thermal control device 510 embedded ina substrate support. The thermal control device 510 may include aplurality of zones corresponding to location on the substrate supportwhere an individual substrate is to be disposed. Alternatively, aplurality of thermal control devices may be provided with one thermalcontrol device 510 in each location.

In some embodiments, the thermal control device 510 is a heater 504. Theheater 504 may be any type of heater used to heat a process chambercomponent. For example, in some embodiments, the heater may comprise oneor more electrically resistive elements coupled to one or more powersources (e.g., resistive heaters). In embodiments where the substratesupport comprises multiple zones or multiple heaters in each processingposition, power to all of the multiple zones or multiple heaters may beapplied at a different rate for each one of the multiple zones ormultiple heaters. In addition to providing independent zones or regionsof thermal control corresponding to the position of each substrate onthe substrate support, in some embodiments, multiple electricallyrestive elements may be utilized to provide separate heating zoneswithin the substrate support within a region corresponding to a singlesubstrate. For example, in some embodiments, the substrate support maycomprise two heaters creating two heating zones, a center or innerheating zone and an edge or outer heating zone wherein the temperatureof each zone is independently controllable. Alternatively, In someembodiments, the one or more substrates 200 may be heated by a lamphead, which is disposed in a position relative to the substrate support308 suitable to heat the one or more substrates 200. The lamp headgenerates radiation which is directed to the top surface of the one ormore substrates 200. Alternatively or in combination, the lamp head maybe configured to heat the bottom surface of the one or more substrates200, for example, such as by being disposed below the substrate support,or by directing the radiation to the bottom surface of the one or moresubstrates 200. The lamps may be divided into multiple zones. The zonescan be individually adjusted by a controller to allow controlledradiative heating of different areas of the substrate support. In someembodiments, the thermal control device 510 may include a heat exchanger506 for example having channels to flow a coolant therethrough to removeheat from heated substrates, for example following an anneal process.

In some embodiments, the thermal control device 510 includes bothheating and cooling capabilities provided by combinations of the abovedescribed embodiments. For example, heating may be provided by theheater 504 (e.g., resistive heating elements or heating lamps) andcooling may be provided by the heat exchanger 506 (e.g., coolingchannels to flow a coolant). Thus, the temperature of individualsubstrates disposed on the substrate support can be advantageouslysimultaneously processed at different temperatures on the same substratesupport. Moreover, a plurality of substrates can be simultaneouslysupported and their temperatures rapidly increased and decreasedrepeatedly as the substrate support rotates between processing positionsto provide the temperatures used for deposition and anneal processeswithout removing the substrates from the substrate support until theprocesses are completed and a film (e.g., a cobalt film) is deposited toa predetermined final thickness.

For example, 104-108, as depicted in FIG. 2D, may be repeated until theopening is filled with a cobalt material or until the deposited cobaltlayer has a reached a final thickness, for example any thicknesssuitable for a semiconductor manufacturing process. Further, when theopening 204 has been filled by the cobalt material, the opening 220 maybe filled above the level of the upper surface of the substrate and/ordeposited material, for example from the cobalt material, may remain onthe upper surface of the one or more substrates 200. Accordingly,techniques, such as wet clean in an acidic solution, chemical orelectrochemical mechanical polishing, or the like may be subsequentlyused to remove excess deposited material from the upper surface, suchthat the opening 220 is filled with the deposited cobalt material up toabout an equivalent level with the upper surface.

Returning to FIG. 3, the apparatus 300 may comprise a controller 350 anda process chamber 302 having an exhaust system 320 for removing excessprocess gases, processing by-products, or the like, from the innervolume 305 of the process chamber 302. Exemplary process chambers mayinclude any of several process chambers configured for chemical vapordeposition (CVD), available from Applied Materials, Inc. of Santa Clara,Calif. Other suitable process chambers from other manufacturers maysimilarly be used. Such process chambers may be standalone processchambers or part of a cluster tool, such as the CENTURA®, ENDURA®, orPRODUCER® line of process tools also available from Applied Materials,Inc. of Santa Clara, Calif.

The process chamber 302 has an inner volume 305 that includes aprocessing volume 304. The processing volume 304 may be defined, forexample, between a substrate support 308 disposed within the processchamber 302 for supporting one or more substrates 200 upon the substratesupport 308 during processing and one or more gas inlets, such as ashowerhead 314 and/or nozzles provided at various locations. In someembodiments, the substrate support 308 may include a mechanism thatretains or supports the one or more substrates 200 on the surface of thesubstrate support 308, such as an electrostatic chuck, a vacuum chuck, asubstrate retaining clamp, or the like (not shown). In some embodiments,the substrate support 308 may include mechanisms for controlling thesubstrate temperature and/or for controlling the species flux and/or ionenergy proximate the substrate surface.

For example, in some embodiments, the substrate support 308 may includean RF bias electrode 340. The RF bias electrode 340 may be coupled toone or more bias power sources (one bias power source 338 shown) throughone or more respective matching networks (matching network 336 shown).The one or more bias power sources may be capable of producing up to1200 W or RF energy at a frequency of about 2 MHz to about 60 MHz, suchas at about 2 MHz, or about 13.56 MHz, or about 60 Mhz. In someembodiments, two bias power sources may be provided for coupling RFpower through respective matching networks to the RF bias electrode 340at respective frequencies of about 2 MHz and about 13.56 MHz. The atleast one bias power source may provide either continuous or pulsedpower. In some embodiments, the bias power source alternatively may be aDC or pulsed DC source.

The one or more substrates 200 may enter the process chamber 302 via anopening 312 in a wall of the process chamber 302. The opening 312 may beselectively sealed via a slit valve 318, or other mechanism forselectively providing access to the interior of the chamber through theopening 312. The substrate support 308 may be coupled to a liftmechanism 334 that may control the position of the substrate support 308between a lower position (as shown) suitable for transferring substratesinto and out of the chamber via the opening 312 and a selectable upperposition suitable for processing. The process position may be selectedto maximize process uniformity for a particular process. When in atleast one of the elevated processing positions, the substrate support308 may be disposed above the opening 312 to provide a symmetricalprocessing region.

The one or more gas inlets (e.g., the showerhead 314) may be coupled toa gas supply 316 for providing one or more process gases through a massflow controller 317 into the processing volume 304 of the processchamber 302. In addition, one or more valves 319 may be provided tocontrol the flow of the one or more process gases. The mass flowcontroller 317 and one or more valves 319 may be used individually, orin conjunction to provide the process gases at given flow rates at aconstant flow rate, or pulsed (as described above).

Although a showerhead 314 is shown in FIG. 3, additional or alternativegas inlets may be provided such as nozzles or inlets disposed in theceiling or on the sidewalls of the process chamber 302 or at otherlocations suitable for providing gases to the process chamber 302, suchas the base of the process chamber, the periphery of the substratesupport, or the like.

The apparatus 300 may utilize capacitively coupled RF energy for plasmaprocessing. For example, the process chamber 302 may have a ceiling 342made from dielectric materials and a showerhead 314 that is at leastpartially conductive to provide an RF electrode (or a separate RFelectrode may be provided). The showerhead 314 (or other RF electrode)may be coupled to one or more RF power sources (one RF power source 348shown) through one or more respective matching networks (matchingnetwork 346 shown). The one or more plasma sources may be capable ofproducing up to about 3,000 W, or in some embodiments, up to about 5,000W, of RF energy at a frequency of about 2 MHz and/or about 13.56 MHz ora high frequency, such as 27 MHz and/or 60 MHz. The exhaust system 320generally includes a pumping plenum 324 and one or more conduits thatcouple the pumping plenum 324 to the inner volume 305 (and generally,the processing volume 304) of the process chamber 302.

A vacuum pump 328 may be coupled to the pumping plenum 324 via a pumpingport 326 for pumping out the exhaust gases from the process chamber viaone or more exhaust ports (two exhaust ports 322 shown). 302. The vacuumpump 328 may be fluidly coupled to an exhaust outlet 332 for routing theexhaust to appropriate exhaust handling equipment. A valve 330 (such asa gate valve, or the like) may be disposed in the pumping plenum 324 tofacilitate control of the flow rate of the exhaust gases in combinationwith the operation of the vacuum pump 328. Although a z-motion gatevalve is shown, any suitable, process compatible valve for controllingthe flow of the exhaust may be utilized.

To facilitate control of the process chamber 302 as described above, thecontroller 350 may be one of any form of general-purpose computerprocessor that can be used in an industrial setting for controllingvarious chambers and sub-processors. The memory, or computer-readablemedium, 356 of the CPU 352 may be one or more of readily availablememory such as random access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM),floppy disk, hard disk, or any other form of digital storage, local orremote. The support circuits 354 are coupled to the CPU 352 forsupporting the processor in a conventional manner. These circuitsinclude cache, power supplies, clock circuits, input/output circuitryand subsystems, and the like.

The inventive methods disclosed herein may generally be stored in thememory 356 as a software routine 358 that, when executed by the CPU 352,causes the process chamber 302 to perform processes of the presentdisclosure. The software routine 358 may also be stored and/or executedby a second CPU (not shown) that is remotely located from the hardwarebeing controlled by the CPU 352. Some or all of the method of thepresent disclosure may also be performed in hardware. As such,embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in software andexecuted using a computer system, in hardware as, e.g., an applicationspecific integrated circuit or other type of hardware implementation, oras a combination of software and hardware. The software routine 358 maybe executed after the one or more substrates 200 is positioned on thesubstrate support 308. The software routine 358, when executed by theCPU 352, transforms the general purpose computer into a specific purposecomputer (controller) 350 that controls the chamber operation such thatthe methods disclosed herein are performed.

The disclosure may be practiced using other semiconductor substrateprocessing systems wherein the processing parameters may be adjusted toachieve acceptable characteristics by those skilled in the art byutilizing the teachings disclosed herein without departing from thespirit of the disclosure.

While the foregoing is directed to embodiments of the presentdisclosure, other and further embodiments of the disclosure may bedevised without departing from the basic scope thereof.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A method of depositing a cobalt layer atopa substrate disposed in a process chamber, comprising: (a) providing asubstrate to a substrate support that is rotatable between twoprocessing positions within the process chamber: (b) exposing thesubstrate to a cobalt containing precursor at a first processingposition within the process chamber to deposit a cobalt layer atop thesubstrate, wherein the substrate at the first processing position is ata first temperature; (c) rotating the substrate to a second processingposition within the process chamber; and (d) annealing the substrate atthe second processing position to remove contaminants from the cobaltlayer, wherein the substrate at the second processing position is at asecond temperature greater than the first temperature, and wherein (b)and (d) occur simultaneously.
 2. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising repeating (b)-(d) to form a cobalt layer having a finalthickness.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the cobalt containingprecursor comprises one or more of cobalt carbonyl complexes, cobaltamidinate compounds, cobaltocene compounds, cobalt dienyl complexes,cobalt nitrosyl complexes, dicobalt hexacarbonyl acetyl compounds,cyclopentadienyl cobalt bis(carbonyl) (CpCo(CO)₂), tricarbonyl allylcobalt ((CO)₃Co(CH₂CH═CH₂)).
 4. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising maintaining a process chamber pressure at about 15 to about25 Torr.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein exposing the substrate to acobalt containing precursor further comprises exposing the substrate toa cobalt containing precursor in a plasma state.
 6. The method of claim1, wherein the first temperature is about 100 to about 400 degreesCelsius and the second temperature is about 150 degrees Celsius to about500 degrees Celsius.
 7. The method of claim 1, further comprisingannealing the substrate for about 50 seconds to about 150 seconds. 8.The method of claim 1, further comprising, after annealing thesubstrate, cooling the substrate to a temperature suitable for cobaltdeposition.
 9. The method of claim 1, further comprising providing atleast 2 substrates to the substrate support.
 10. The method of claim 9,wherein a first set of substrates are at the first processing positionand exposed to the cobalt containing precursor to deposit the cobaltlayer atop the first set of substrates.
 11. The method of claim 10,wherein a second set of substrates are at the second processingposition.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein exposing the first set ofsubstrates at the first processing position to the cobalt containingprecursor and annealing the second set of substrates at the secondprocessing position occurs simultaneously.
 13. The method of claim 12,wherein the substrate support rotates the first set of substrates to thesecond processing position to anneal the first set of substrates toremove contaminants from the cobalt layer and rotates the second set ofsubstrates to the first processing position to expose the second set ofsubstrates to the cobalt containing precursor to deposit the cobaltlayer atop the second set of substrates.
 14. The method of claim 1,further comprising an even number of single substrates in an even numberof separate processing positions, wherein half of the even number ofseparate processing positions are the first processing positions, andwherein another half of the even number of separate processing positionsare the second processing positions.
 15. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising flowing in an inert gas to the second processing positionduring (c).
 16. The method of claim 1, further comprising, prior toexposing the substrate to a cobalt containing precursor, stopping thesubstrate support in the first processing position, and after rotatingthe substrate to a second processing position, stopping the substratesupport in the second processing position.
 17. The method of claim 2,further comprising, after annealing the substrate, cooling the substrateto a temperature suitable for cobalt deposition in at least at one ofthe first processing position, or the second processing position.
 18. Amethod of depositing a cobalt layer atop a substrate, comprising: (a)depositing a cobalt layer atop a first set of one or more substrates byexposing the first set of one or more substrates to a cobalt containingprecursor while in a first processing position of a rotatable substratesupport disposed in a process chamber; (b) rotating substrate supportupon its central axis to move the first set of one or more substrates toa second processing position within the process chamber; and (c)annealing the first set of one or more substrates at the secondprocessing position to remove contaminants from the cobalt layer,wherein the first set of one or more substrates are at the firstprocessing position and exposed to the cobalt containing precursor todeposit the cobalt layer atop the first set of one or more substrateswhile simultaneously annealing a second set of one or more substrates atthe second processing position within the process chamber, and whereinrotation of the substrate support simultaneously moves the first set ofone or more substrates to the second processing position and the secondset of one or more substrates to the first processing position, andwherein the annealing is at a second temperature greater than a firsttemperature at which the cobalt layer is deposited.
 19. A method ofdepositing a cobalt layer atop a substrate, comprising: (a) depositing acobalt layer atop a first set of one or more substrates disposed on asubstrate support by exposing the first set of one or more substrates toa cobalt containing precursor while in a first processing positionwithin a process chamber; (b) rotating the first set of one or moresubstrates into a second processing position within the process chamberwhile simultaneously rotating a second set of one or more substratesdisposed on the substrate support into the first processing position;(c) annealing the first set of one or more substrates at the secondprocessing position to remove contaminants from the cobalt layer,wherein the annealing is at a second temperature greater than a firsttemperature at which the cobalt layer is deposited; and (d) simultaneouswith (c), depositing a cobalt layer atop the second set of one or moresubstrates by exposing the second set of one or more substrates to acobalt containing precursor while in the first processing position.